Tips on Creating Final Projects:  Self Running *.PPS files in PowerPoint
     Your goal in creating your final project is to create a self running 8 minute or less presentation as outlined in the Final Project instructions.  By "self running," I mean when I double click on it, it runs without further need for clicks or whatever.  There are a variety of ways to do this.  Some students in the past have been able to include music, motion, video clips, narration, and so on.  This will also require you to check your timing, etc.  Use your creativity... and make this a project that you'll enjoy reviewing in five years.  For the moment, though, your objective is to engage the viewer (me) with what you've learned and where you're going based on the concepts introducted in the course.  Have fun with this.  My experience is that you'll learn a lot.  Here are some notes from previous students that may help.

Quote from
Microsoft PowerPoint Help, December 3, 2007: 
If you want to EMBED your sounds
(best approach since you're sending them)
you must use *.WAV files.

Only .wav (WAV: A file format in which Windows stores sounds as waveforms. Such files have the extension .wav. Depending on various factors, one minute of sound can occupy as little as 644 kilobytes or as much as 27 megabytes of storage.) (waveform audio data) sound files can be embedded — all other media files types are linked. By default, .wav sound files that are greater than 100 kilobytes (KB) in size are automatically linked (linked object: An object that is created in a source file and inserted into a destination file, while maintaining a connection between the two files. The linked object in the destination file can be updated when the source file is updated.) to your presentation, rather than embedded (embedded object: Information (object) contained in a source file and inserted into a destination file. Once embedded, the object becomes part of the destination file. Changes you make to the embedded object are reflected in the destination file.) in it. You can increase the size limit for embedded .wav files to be a maximum size of 50,000 KB, but raising this limit also increases the overall size of your presentation.

(Notes from Previous Students)

If you are embedding outside music (mp3 files, etc) I used the following instructions from Microsoft: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HP051946981033.aspx?pid=CH063500651033

I'm glad that you liked the recording.  As you noted in the course book, the assignment was an MC challenge for me.  Here is how to record narration on PowerPoint.

0. Connect microphone to PC
1. On PowerPoint go to [Slide Show] -> [Record Narration ...]
2. Configure [Set Microphone Level ...] and [Change Quality ...] if needed
3. Click [OK] to start recording
4. Hit [Esc] key when finished

You can record all slides at once or record each slide separately. There seems to be a large variance in the comfort level for PowerPoint.

(from Microsoft)
You can add music and sounds from files on your computer, a network, the Internet, or Microsoft Clip Organizer. You can also record your own sounds to add to a presentation, or use music from a CD.  You insert music or sounds on a slide, and a sound icon that represents the sound file appears. To play the music or sound, you can set it to start automatically when the slide displays, start on a mouse-click, start automatically but with a time delay, or play as part of an animation sequence. If you don't want the icon to be visible, you can drag it off the slide and set up the sound to play automatically.  If Microsoft PowerPoint doesn't support a particular media type or feature and cannot play a sound file, you can try playing it in Microsoft Windows Media Player, which is part of Microsoft Windows and plays multimedia files in PowerPoint when you insert the sound as an object.

You need speakers and a sound card on your computer to play music and sounds. To find out what's installed and what settings are in use, check the multimedia and sounds settings in Windows Control Panel. By default, sounds are automatically linked to your file, rather than embedded (embedded object: Information (object) contained in a source file and inserted into a destination file. Once embedded, the object becomes part of the destination file. Changes you make to the embedded object are reflected in the destination file.) in it, if they are greater than 100 KB in size. You can change this default to be more or less than 100 KB. When your presentation has linked files, you must copy the linked files as well as the presentation if you are going to be giving the presentation on another computer.  If the path name of a linked file exceeds 128 characters, Microsoft Office PowerPoint is not able to find and play that linked file. In such a case, you can either rename the linked file, or shorten the path name by copying the linked file into the folder where your presentation is located. Then either update links automatically by using the Package for CD feature, or update them manually by removing the sounds from the presentation and then adding them again.

The Darden Library also has some limited recording facilities in its audio visual booth.  Contact Darden Library for more information.

Further, Macromedia Breeze provides a way to record narration with PowerPoint slides.  Darden has a Macromedia license.  Contact the Darden Media Services Center for more information and to obtain permission to use the license.